Senior Robotics Engineer

Caterpillar Inc.•Irving, TX

2d•$112,710 - $183,140•Onsite

About The Position

Caterpillar is hiring a robotics generalist to build the autonomy stack that enables large off-road machines to operate autonomously on customer sites. The work spans perception, planning, motion, control, and learning, combining modern learning-based methods with classical robotics foundations. The engineer will own components end-to-end, from initial ideas and prototypes through production deployment on real hardware, and contribute across the autonomy stack while bringing deep expertise in at least one area. The role works in small, outcome-owning pods staffed from capability benches. The position is based full-time onsite at Caterpillar’s Irving, Texas office, five days per week. Domestic relocation assistance and visa sponsorship are available for eligible applicants. Compensation is $112,710 to $183,140. Any offer is conditioned on successful completion of a drug screen.

Requirements

Extensive professional engineering experience, with an emphasis on robotics.
Robotics generalist comfortable working across the autonomy stack.
Expertise in at least one of AI, motion planning, perception, controls, or SLAM.
Production-quality C++ and Python skills.
Experience with ROS or similar middleware in real robotics systems.
Full-lifecycle product experience, ideally taking robotics products from idea to production.
Pragmatic, first-principles engineering approach, with end-to-end component ownership and collaboration across a fast-moving delivery team.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a similar field.

Nice To Haves

Experience with real-world or field robotics, or autonomous vehicles, on-road or off-road.
Experience with learning-based control or perception, or foundation/VLA-style models.
Experience with simulation and on-vehicle deployment.
MLOps or training-infrastructure depth for an ML-focused profile.
Interest in working on site and seeing code operate on real machines.

Responsibilities

Participate in test review and analysis, test witnessing, and certification of robotics software.
Design, build, and ship autonomy components across perception, planning, control, and learning.
Take work from prototype to production on real hardware.
Bring depth in a specialty while contributing broadly across the autonomy stack.
Work in small, outcome-owning pods staffed from capability benches.